1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a melting furnace with an agitator and an agitator for a melting furnace.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, nonferrous metals and so on, such as aluminum, etc., are melted to form ingot products, or melted and directly cast by a die casting machine to manufacture products. On such an occasion, in order to homogenize a nonferrous metal or the like to improve the quality of ingot products or die cast products, the melt of the nonferrous metal in the melting furnace, i.e., Al, Cu, Zn or an alloy of at least two of them, or a nonferrous metal such as an Mg alloy is fully stirred to homogenize the components. As the result, conventionally, an agitator is inserted in the melting furnace to agitate the melt by manpower, or the furnace is sealed and a negative pressure and a positive pressure are alternately applied to agitate the melt, or an electromagnet type agitator or a permanent magnet type agitator is provided under the furnace bottom to agitate the melt by electromagnetic force. The agitation by manpower is often employed, but since the work should be performed under a high temperature and the working environment is very severe, the improvement of the working conditions is demanded. The electromagnetic agitation is not widely used since it requires a large amount of power consumption, complicated maintenance works, and a high cost. Although the power consumption required in the permanent magnet type apparatus is low, it is necessary to rotate a magnetic field generating mechanism for generating a shifting magnetic field, which complicates the structure of the apparatus, and causes failures at a rate which is not low.